[[SequenceBreaking You can go wherever you want...]] [[NoExceptYes but if you try to go anywhere out of order]], ''the game will kill you.''

Later areas are guarded by disproportionately powerful enemies that will beat you down for approaching them too early. As a player, you're supposed to recognize that as a sign that you should just come back later. With any luck, you'll be ready for those challenges by the time the game actually mentions them.

The good news is that if you're somehow miraculously able to pull it off early, via some sort of OutsideTheBoxTactic application of the UselessUsefulSpell, clever strategy, or sheer luck, then you get to learn why there's nothing quite like enjoying amounts of experience and equipment drops that you probably [[DiscOneNuke weren't intended to have until fifteen hours later]]. It can also sometimes be fun to beat them for SequenceBreaking purposes, depending.

The other way to defeat a Beef Gate, of course, is LevelGrinding -- in games that allow you to.

This trope is nearly omnipresent in {{MMORPG}}s, which generally use the LevelGrinding necessary to survive in a new area as their primary advancement mechanic.

Note that if the way is guarded by an enemy that is simply invincible until you get a specific PlotCoupon or EventFlag and you cannot sneak past another way, it's not a BeefGate, it's a BrokenBridge. Compare CashGate, where you need GlobalCurrency instead of XP to advance the plot, and FameGate, where you need to gain in-universe notoriety instead.----!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Action Adventure]]* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' was completely wide-open, with nothing stopping players from entering any area on the map (except the last dungeon) and fighting enemies which can kill them in one hit. Of course, [[SequenceBreaking it is possible to survive if the player is]] [[NoDamageRun skilled enough.]]* ''{{Shantae}}'' - Going directly left of the FirstTown results in your being assaulted by a pack of nagas--they move quickly, shoot homing [[MakeMeWannaShout screech attacks]], and they have huge amounts of health (moreso at night). You'll need powerful attack items, more health, and possibly one of the optional strong attacks to survive. [[spoiler: Or you can sneak by with Vanishing Cream, but you'll meet a BrokenBridge anyway.]]* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', going left initially is an easy way to get butchered by way-too-powerful enemies.* Kraid's Hideout in the original ''{{VideoGame/Metroid}}'' is accessible by an obvious use of an early power-up, but if that's the last power-up you've obtained, you'll be quickly torn apart by the enemies behind the first door you step through. The sensible approach is to travel through all of Norfair and Ridley's Hideout collecting the goodies first, though ''Zero Mission'' changes it so that Kraid's lair is easier and more natural to take on sooner and Ridley's is harder to get into.** In a variant, both ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Metroid Zero Mission]]'' have rooms with extremely hot temperatures that will deplete health quickly. [[{{Metroidvania}} While these are generally meant to be impassible without the Varia Suit,]] skilled players can navigate these rooms quickly enough to avoid death, allowing them to access some powerups early.* In ''VideoGame/StarControlII'', if you try to leave the solar system without first visiting the starbase near Earth, you are forced to fight off enemies continuously everywhere you go. (About every 5 seconds on average.) ''This did not stop people from managing to beat the entire game in this state'', a task which is even harder than it sounds due to the fact that, among other things, no starbase means no speed upgrades or weapon upgrades, and the game has a time limit.* You can ''try'' a speed run through ''QuestForGloryI''. If the ogre doesn't kill you (you can run past him with speed or the right magic), then the kobold will. And if you somehow manage to kill the kobold (possible as a magic user with a ''lot'' of mana potions), then you'll get slaughtered when you get to the Brigand Fortress. And if, through some miracle, you manage to get through the Brigand Fortress, Baba Yaga's quest, which sends you to the graveyard at midnight, will likely cause you to run into some difficulties from the incredibly tough monsters that lurk in the night.* Lampshaded in [[PokeParkWii PokéPark 2]]. There's a huge Krookadile guarding the gate from the Cove area to the Arbor area, whom you have to beat in a battle to pass, and he says something like "if you can't beat me then you have no chance in the next area". You can beat him at any level (it's not a high-difficulty game) but he's much easier with levelled-up moves.[[/folder]]

[[folder:First Person Shooter]]* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Stalker}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]'' heading into the restricted area of The Bar without authorization will result in you getting marked as an enemy of [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Duty]] followed by being quickly gunned down by guards.* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}''** If you go the wrong way during the introductory missions against Nine-Toes you'll run up against {{Badass}} Skags twice your level.** The [=DLC=]s you can visit pretty anytime. It is possible to go shoot some zombies in the first DLC with a low-level charater. You might be able to speed run right through it, but expect to use many revives.* In ''Videogame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' you can access Lynchwood right off the bat from reaching the Dust. You'll also run into heavily-armed bandit badasses with twice your average level when you step off the train, including [[GiantMook Bruisers]] who can one-shot you at said level.* In ''MetroidPrime 2: Echoes'', on [[DarkWorld Dark Aether]], you can find giant indestructible Ing called Ingclaws. Any room with active Ingclaws drains your health at a phenomenal rate until you get the Dark Suit. Later, you run into the Ingstorm, which does the same thing and is only nullified by the Light Suit. * In one ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life}}'' mod, ''Mega Maze'', you begin at the entrance to the titular maze. If you choose to turn on noclip mode or lower the gravity and hop up to the top of the building in front of you, you're greeted by a sign that says "You should not be up here, haxor". Cue a super-strong Headcrab with tons of HP named the "haxor killxor" jumping out to reinforce the point.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Four X]]* ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' - The Guardian of Orion serves this purpose in the series. The system it guards (of the same name) is an incredibly fertile paradise and the best possible world you could settle, but the Guardian will utterly trash anything sent into the system with its top-tier weaponry, ensuring that Orion is denied to everybody until one player gets a significant fleet with enough of a technological edge.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Interactive Fiction]]* A very old example: in the text-based game of ''[[VideoGame/TheHobbit1982 The Hobbit]]'', your path is blocked briefly by trolls, who will eat you if you try to fight them. Normally, one waits for daybreak so that they'll turn to stone, but very rarely they can be killed by Thorin and Gandalf. It's also possible to get into their cave early without the key by breaking the door, though by the time you get Sting, they'll have petrified.[[/folder]]

[[folder: MMORPG ]]* ''CityOfHeroes''** There is nothing to stop level one players from entering the higher-level city zones -- even Peregrine Island, where even the random purse-snatchers have an average level of 50 or so.** The sidekicking system, which allows you to temporarily bring one teammate up to your level (but without granting them new powers) would be nigh-useless if all zones were level restricted. This system makes it much easier for friends to play together without worrying about outleveling each other.** Unfortunately, since dying sends you to the geographically nearest hospital and not the last one you visited, there are areas (Independence Port, for one) where you can be take two steps in, be cut down, and wake up halfway across the zone with 40+ high-level mobs between you and safety.* ''Pandora Saga'''s game world opens up between level 20-25 (out of 50). Only the monsters in the shared maps between the factions' capitals are anywhere below level 40 while those in the open PK regions and the faction exclusive maps are massively overpowered for their level. Needless to say even a full party of capped players can wipe against world trash on a bad day.* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' has several.** The high level zone of Plaguelands located right next to the undead starting zone. There is a gate that separates the zones and some high level [=NPCs=] guarding it, so most players should probably realize they shouldn't go there, but nothing prevents them from doing so, and running into [[http://www.wowwiki.com/Welcome_Bear Extremely Pleasant Bears.]]** Redridge Mountains (one of the early zones for Alliance players) is similarly connected (via a big intimidating-looking gate) to the much-higher leveled Burning Steppes.** On the other hand, there are a number of zones when there's no such forewarning. Ashenvale is a particularly notable offender, since that zone is smoothly connected to a much higher-level zone (Felwood) with no obvious "danger ahead" signs. [[note]]The "danger ahead" sign is simple: Most high-level areas are much, much less pleasant-looking than the low-level ones. If you go from lovely forested area to scorched, corrupted hellhole, you should probably turn around. Not always reliable, but generally so.[[/note]]** Similarly, don't try going from Duskwood into Deadwind Pass at less than level 40, unless you have a deathwish or can run very fast. Ironically, there's a quest available around level 40 that requires you to do exactly that.\\\\Doubly so on a Horde character: There's an Alliance town in your way that's tricky to bypass. The horde actually have quests to go there around level 30, (better get that mount you could get when you dinged 20, you'll need it!) and having to run from far south through an Alliance Zone, completely through a hostile town, and then through Deadwind. On top of that becomes the quest you get from there to Kargath which either requires you to go back through that town, up through the opposing faction's starting areas, and then through level 50 zones with far more mobs than deadwind, or you get the longest run in the game. The horde is not happy.** The infamous "Wetlands death run," a route that night elf and draenei players originally had to take in order to get to the Alliance capitals in the Eastern Kingdoms for the first time. It was called that because most players go there at fairly low level, since Darnassus and the Exodar are practically ghost towns, and the zone they had to go through is filled with mobs roughly twice their level. Patch 3.0.2 eliminated the death run once and for all by redirecting the Auberdine-Menethil ship to the newly implemented Stormwind Harbor.** Anyway, it was always possible to avoid the whole thing by swimming. Assuming you avoid the [[EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks hammerhead shark]] and the murlocs in Menethil Harbour's waters, the rest of the journey is completely safe (if incredibly long and boring) until you hit the level 10 murlocs guarding the Westfall coast. (This way, you'd actually end up going through the place where Stormwind Harbor is now - before they built it. You have to admire the human builders for turning the towering, vertical, wall-like cliffs that used to be there into a harbor just like that.)** Before ''Cataclysm'', the hostile furbolgs of Timbermaw Hold would easily mop the floor with low-level players attempting to leave Moonglade for Felwood or Winterspring. Since the revamp of the old world, however, they are merely unfriendly to new players and do not attack first (still, said low-level players are likely to immediately run into hostile mobs of around level 50 immediately after exiting the cave). The furbolgs can be befriended at higher levels.** Ashenvale and Duskwood (both mid-20s zones), and the Hinterlands and Feralas (both mid-40s zones), each contain a little side area in which a raid-boss-level dragon is guarded by several level 62 elite dragonkin. If you're a young'un out exploring the zone to see what's there, you'll be in for a nasty surprise.** This is basically the function of "gear check" bosses that appear at the start of some dungeons, such as [[http://www.wowhead.com/npc=24882 Brutallus]] or [[http://www.wowhead.com/npc=13020 Vael]]. These fights require the raid to put out a very high amount of damage in a very short amount of time while not getting killed by periphery attacks. The message is if you aren't well equipped enough ''and'' coordinated enough to beat this thing, you have no business being in the dungeon -- they're typically the second boss or so, so you can still throw yourself against one before it and gear people up.** Back in Vanilla WoW, Alliance warlocks were basically forced to run through a Beef Gate at Level 20 to get their succubus summon; the questline was found in the Barrens and Ashenvale, leading to the following wonderful options: either you had to run the length of Loch Modan and the Wetlands to get to Menethil Harbor and take the boat to Ashenvale, then run through the Barrens (a Horde zone at about your level), or you could run though Duskwood and Stranglethorn Vale to the very south tip, dodging Level 40+ mobs and players as you went to get to a boat that way.** Prior to the Cataclysm, starting Tauren had two choices once they arrived at Camp Taurajo in the Barrens: Either take the long and insanely boring walk north to the Crossroads (Without deviating from the road), or head south and die painfully.* ''EverQuest'' had, back in the days before the Plane of Knowledge, a few of these.** Kithicor Forest to Highpass Hold was, in the early days, a killer. Kithicor is a newbie zone in the daytime, but at night swarms with level 45+ undead.** The run from Steamfont Mountain to Greater Faydark ran through the Lesser Faydark - an extremely treacherous zone that is mainly low-to-mid level but roamed by some extremely strong higher level monsters, including of course the [[DemonicSpiders brownie scouts]] which have a habit of "snaring" (lowering the run speed) of players they attack.* ''EVEOnline'' is perhaps the embodiment of this trope. As soon as you create your character, you can wing it for the nearest low security space. Except of course, your tiny ship is more likely to be blown up by marauding players rather than [=NPCs=].* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI''** If you want to go anywhere after the first twenty levels on a new character, you'll be needing to make a StealthRun through a BeefGate. This is worse for players from Windurst; the easiest way to reach the Valkurm Dunes - the usual leveling grounds from Lv.10 to Lv.20 - is to cross a freaking ''ocean'' on a boat occasionally infested by very nasty monsters. Hope you set your Home Point once you get there.** It gets easier once you hit Lv.20 and are able to apply for your Chocobo License. Although the amount of time you can spend on a Chocobo is limited, enemies won't attack you; the only way to die on a Chocobo is to be caught in an Area Of Effect spell aimed at another player.*** Additionally, there are areas that Chocobos will refuse to enter, and you must dismount and enter on foot. These are usually the interior areas, like castles and caves.** Simply reaching your experience party's camp often requires avoiding monsters within one zone, let alone multiple zones. Valkurm Dunes and Qufim Island are good examples of this, particularly the latter due to dangerous undead creatures wandering at night.** For the most part though, a character can travel almost anywhere in the game provided they are good at avoiding mobs and/or have access to the items or spells that give the effects of Sneak and Invisible. Many quests and missions in the game require you to travel to areas that are beyond your ability to pass safely through in a reasonable amount of time without avoiding aggro.* ''VideoGame/PerfectWorld'' has one third of players start out with the ability to fly, and a wide open map. What prevents you from going to the end-game city? Why, the part where you'll get flying level 80s on your tail. Taking the wrong fork in the road or following a small canyon can likewise have a level 10 player walk straight into level 100s. There is usually warnings, though.** Special mention: Everyone in the Human race starts out slightly north of a bridge going over Originia River. Here's a tip: [[SchmuckBait Don't cross that bridge. Really.]] Because on the other side of that bridge, there's highly aggro level 40+ mobs. And if you die there, you'll be warped to a higher-level city. Keep in mind that it is easily possible to go there at level 1 before you get any teleport points. If you're female, you might get lucky enough to have a free ride back to Inn of the Eagle, but if you're male, well, good luck not attracting aggro.*** Speaking of Originia River, if you're Tideborn, you're using Tideform instead of flying, and you have to get to Etherblade fast, use Originia, not the ocean. Why? Because the ocean steers right around Mount Lantern, which is one of the few areas with higher-level water mobs. Yeah.* The GaiaOnline MMORPG, ''zOMG!'', pretty much allows players to wander wherever. Oh, sure, if you try to go anywhere but south of Barton to start, guards will stop you, 'cause you aren't strong enough, but that doesn't stop you from walking into suicidally tough areas the long way. In fact, this is pretty much the main reason anyone hangs around to orb farm.** It is/was difficult to enter Bass'ken Lake if not close to the recommended level because the Outlaw Pup den was near the entrance and spawned mobs of the beasts.* ''RagnarokOnline'' can be like this if you happen to enter the wrong map. It doesn't help that the higher a monster's level is, the more likely it is to attack you on sight. Then there are mini-bosses and [=MVPs=], which spawn intermittently on what could otherwise be fairly safe maps. Turn the wrong corner without expecting it, and you'll be dead before you can even register what hit you.* There is a notable example in ''MapleStory'' -- at the bottom of the clock tower in Ludibrium, there's two paths, and in the last area sits a boss that is almost impossible to avoid, and whose level is guaranteed to be over Level 130. However, the thief class in this game comes with Dark Sight, which protects from physical and touch damage from monsters, but at levels lower than maximum it reduces speed. Hence, any thief with enough speed-enhancing equipment can literally walk through the right-hand one, Thanatos, and get to an area where the only notable feature is a locked door leading to an even stronger, and much-more-famous, boss at the extreme bottom of the clock tower.* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' has North Chetwood, a rather low-level area with Mooks that range from levels 10-14 (and an easily avoidable BossInMookClothing at 15). However, there is a path that leads to the Weather Hills, filled with regular Mooks with levels around 20, and EliteMooks which are at level '''55'''.** The game later almost breaks this trope in Angmar. If you attempt to cross a certain part of the swamp, your character literally gets scared to death (translation: your "dread" gets so high that it paralyzes your movement and decreases your "morale" until you have none left). A certain quest in the storyline has to be beaten before you can cross this area. Of course, you can still power-level your way through the storyline quests if you so choose, but that does mean there's virtually no way a player can get there without leveling up.** To gate content that hasn't yet been added to the game, the east bank of the Anduin is lined with level 65 raid-calibre stealth-breaking archers. Characters with the highest Morale in the game last 2-3 hits against them, and it's seemingly impossible to aggro just one, keeping players on the west bank, in Lorien.** The Blue Mountains, a level 5-15 starter area, has an high 40s dungeon, which new players can simply wander into, and instantly die. There are a couple of high level mobs just outside the dungeon, giving fair warning, but high level players tend to kill them on their way in. There's another dungeon in the Barrow-downs, with the same set up.*** To make matters worse, there's a low level quest that involves going to ''just before'' those high level mobs and turning left instead of right. It's not at all clear from the description which way you're supposed to go, requiring you to metagame and realize that there's '''no way''' a quest of your approximate level should have purple-named ("insanely more powerful than you") mobs in it. And even then, if you can see them to realize their threat level, they can see you too.** Rivendell is a peaceful haven, but reaching it means running a gauntlet of mid 30s animals, typically done well before players are able to fight their way there, but only once. After that, they can use the stables for a safe ride.* ''GuildWars'' doesn't do this often, but there is one point early on in the slow-building Prophecies campaign that stands out. From the last town in the second major area, you can continue on into the next area and continue fighting level 8 and 11 enemies; or you can take a side exit into the back end of the penultimate major area, which is full of level 24 enemies packing elite skills, level 28 bosses, [[SandWorm giant ice wurms]], etc. If you're playing through the campaign normally, you'll have tier 2 of 7 armor, no elite skills, limited access to normal skills, no access to other campaigns, and be considerably below the player max level of 20. Oh, and you'll have a max of six party members to take into an eight-man zone. Of course, there are players you can pay to [[SequenceBreaking run]] you down to the town down there with no risk to yourself...** It's possible to enter an area with [[EliteMooks Mursaat]] enemies before ever infusing armor. Since facing them without infused armor would mean a quick death (unless you bring a lot of healers and/or send you heroes to the front), only after getting infused armor on a story mission (or alternatively, by going to the northernmost part of Mineral Springs, which requires to fight hordes of [[DemonicSpiders tengu]]) you would have a chance against them.* ''RFOnline'' has its fair share of these. It does impose a level 40+ restriction on most areas, but even if you meet the minimum level requirement, you're still gonna get your ass kicked pretty hard. Why? Not only do most monsters here can do enough damage to rearrange your face and a good portion of your upper torso, but they come in swarms. It also doesn't help that there is usually no alternative route, and the fact that they have either a slow-spell or have ridiculously ranged guns.\\\\Beast Mountain and Elan are the worst cases. In the former, there is a must-do quest to find a tiny little tube. sounds moderately challenging? When you get there, you are faced with flying hornets that kill you in one hit (and are only a few pixels big from normal distance) that comes wholesale, as well as numerous other bugs that lurk in the tall grass (who alert stronger, more docile mobs nearby).\\\\When you have sufficient level you can simply walk across the map, but that's only at levels 60 and above, whereas the aforementioned Quest caps you at level 50. Elan also has such a quest, where you must kill a mob that only spawns one at a time, surrounded by equally strong but useless to you mooks. In addition, even if you have hit the maximum level and are wearing the best set of equipment, and is the tanker class, you'll still have a hard time trying to survive in that place.* Most content in ''VideoGame/BillyVsSNAKEMAN'' can be attempted before you're powerful enough to actually get through it. An excellent example is the Discords, about a third of the way through the r00t plotline. Being strong enough to breeze through the entirety of older plotlines isn't enough to guarantee a full 1% chance to defeat Discords.* Nightmare Mode dungeons in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' are guarded by a golden entity known as the Gatekeeper. Unlike most Beef Gates (who you simply have to defeat), the Gatekeeper is designed specifically to test a character's [[AnAdventurerIsYou ability to perform a specific role]]. DPS characters have to meet minimum DPS and kite a trash mob around. Tanks have to keep the Gatekeeper and a set of trash mobs from landing a single hit on a summoned DPSer. Healers have to keep a tank and allies alive, including one who [[ArtificialStupidity deliberately stands in a fire patch]]. Since ''The Secret World'' doesn't have levels, the Gatekeeper functions as a Gear and Skill check for anyone who wants to try the harder content.* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' there is nothing really stopping you from visiting any planet once you get your ship. Except each planet has a recommended level rating, telling you what character level enemies and quests on this planet are geared for. So heading to Belvasis (lvl 44 recommended) just after getting your ship around lvl 15 is not a good idea. Also, each planet has heroic areas which are designed for group play and the average mook in this area is elite level at least. Then on some planets you can visit the opposing side's territory, like on Tatootine, but beware the lvl 50 champion NPC troops of the opposing faction who are there to obliterate your ass.** To say nothing of the higher-level players most likely hanging around waiting to gank your sorry hide.* GuildWars2 holds one of the most extreme examples. In the Wayfarer Foothills, the Norn starter zone (level range 1-15) there is an exit to Frostgorge Sound, notable for containing one of the highest level dungeons in the game, one of the highest level events (Take down the Claw of Jormag), and being one of the highest level zones (73-80). To put this in perspective, to even get to a similarly leveled zone anywhere else in the game, you have you cross through the entirety of the Human lands, then cross five or so more zones before ending up in the zombie-infested lands of Orr. Also in Guild Wars 2, all starting areas are connected to a 'safe zone'. Every safe zone has an Asura gate that can be used to go to Lion's Arch. In Lion's Arch, there is a man standing outside a boat who will offer to take you to Southsun Cove. Southsun Cove is an area made exclusively for characters who are at max level. That is to say, YOU CAN GO FROM ANY LEVEL 1 ZONE TO A LEVEL 80 ZONE WITHOUT FAST TRAVEL IN 15 MINUTES. Just don't expect any mercy from those giant crabs once you get there. (And just to throw insult on top of the kind of instant death involved, there are plenty of intra-area warnings when venturing into tougher areas on the same map, warning players that they're stepping into places somewhat nastier than they were. However, many of the warnings sound suspiciously like quest-givers, without the usual quest-giver dialog options.)

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' isn't too cruel with its beef gates since you can clearly see an enemy's level once it pops into view. Of course, don't be too surprised to see a gang of enemies whose levels are nearly triple of the levels of other enemies several yards away. [[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Time Strategy ]]* ''[[VideoGame/AnnoDomini Anno 1602]]'' gives the three CPU rivals ships equipped with more cannons than the player's one has, thus making it impossible to swiftly dispose of all competition before the game really starts. In addition, two opponents also have much larger ships than the player's default one (resulting in even more cannons and better storage capacities), although this is made up for by their slow speed.\\\\The player might be able to sink the ship of the opponent sized as their own one, but even being successful in that will cause the player's ship to be heavily damaged, making it sail at a much slower pace, thus crippling any kinds of vital trade and exploration processes.* ''[[DawnOfWar Dawn of War: Dark Crusade]]''. Once you grab the Pavonis territory, you can attack any territory you want, however the stronghold territories still require you to control one of the bordering territories first. It's still a wise idea to attack the other territories for additional troops, though. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard You're gonna' need all the help you can get.]]** Dark Crusade and Soulstorm both had the final fortress with some sort of beef gate in the actual missions. In theory you can just go straight up and kill whatever is the target for that mission. In practice, this is suicidal, as not only does the opponent have a horde of units (almost five times the amount you are allowed to have in said mission) guarding the damn place, it also has numerous "attack waves" that are apparently independant of it's normal cap AND usually the relic unit already at said gate. You can, however, subvert it all by playing as an artillery-heavy army (namely Imperial Guard) and just lobbing shell after shell at the target until it's good and dead. Made easier by the fact that some maps have your base located almost right next to the enemy base, separated by a wall and a semi-convoluted maze (which the artillery bypasses).* ''DawnOfWar II'' has Angel Gate, a mission requiring you to repower the massive gate and, optionally, its defenses, before the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]] can rush it. The mission is unlocked roughly halfway through the campaign and is one of three main objectives you're given, which can theoretically be given in any order. However, one of the other two main objectives while give you your last squad--a [[HumongousMecha Dreadnought]]. Even with all six of the generators powered on, Angel Gate's defenses are inadequate against the literally hundreds of Tyranids (along with four to six Carnifexes, which are each the size of a small building) that will attack your squads. However, having a twenty-foot-tall undead armored walker levels the playing field quite nicely.* ''VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2'' - You can attack the Ashikaga Shogunate at pretty much any time you want prior to the point where they turn on you anyway. But God help you if you go for broke unprepared...you will be crushed. Utterly.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Roguelike ]]* ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'' is made of this trope, in many different guises. For instance, there's the Tower of Eternal Flames, the steel golem(s), the Eternal Guardian, the ancient karmic wyrm, the assassins' lair, the underwater cave ...** The small cave is an [[InvertedTrope inversion]], scaling its difficulty based on player level. The ''higher'' your level, the harder it gets.\\\\Some other twists on the trope: the bug-ridden temple (which will not open until the player has died many times), and the pyramid and minotaur maze (which only open for certain level ranges, closing again when you get too tough).* In ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonGatesToInfinity'', there are locked doors on specific floors of specific dungeons that lead to rooms filled with treasure. However, said rooms are also inhabited by Pokemon that are typically much, ''much'' stronger the ones roaming around outside. For instance, the first one you can stumble across is in a dungeon that only has level 6 Pokemon outside, but is filled level 55 Pokemon that will completely wipe the floor with you without proper preparation. They also conveniently give you a key to open it with a mere few dungeons after it's encountered, meaning many a player is likely to meet a swift demise in this fashion.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Role Playing Game ]]* ''DigimonWorld3'' has this all over the place. The very first one happens as soon as you leave the town you start in; take the left path on the central park and you'll end up near a shore where you find mostly Coelamon around. They will attack first and defeat anything you throw at it with one attack.** The Knightmons are even more ridiculous. No matter what you do, you cant defeat them, [[spoiler: unless you got the 4 colored ID cards.]]** In the original ''DigimonWorld'', the abudant [[BrokenBridge Broken Bridges]] are there for a reason. If you know what you're doing and fix one or two right away without training your partner at all, you will most likely get [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomped]] very fast. Most of the time the game is courteous enough to give you ''actual'' [[BeefGate Beef Gates]] instead of just [[{{Mook}} Mooks]] that are way out of your league... at the price of you being incabable of running away from the battles, since they are against recruitable Digimon.* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' you can enter the Diglett Cave as soon as you arrive in Vermilion (and theoretically before facing the second gym leader Misty and her Lv. 21 Starmie). However, the wild Diglett roaming there are at Lv. 20, higher than the Pokémon used by trainers at that point, and they sport Dig, a extremely powerful ground move. The cherry on the cake is that you may run into a Lv. 30 Dugtrio there, who is extremely fast (which lowers your chances of fleeing as well as letting it attack first) and very powerful, that's likely to defeat all your Pokémon unless you're horribly overleveled. You're supposed to go there after beating Misty, exploring S.S. Anne and beating the third gym leader Lt. Surge.** [[SequenceBreaking Alternatively]], you can go into the cave with a few Great Balls, catch one of the little bastards, and [[DiscOneNuke sweep all of Vermillion Gym (including Lt. Surge and his overpowered Raichu) with it]].** Made even worse in the GBA remakes, where Diglett and Dugtrio have the ability Arena Trap, which prevents you from running away or switching out. And attempting to use Repel to safely skip the battle with Misty in this case wouldn't work, due to the mechanics behind Repel, unless your team is strong enough that you wouldn't need to skip her in the first place.** The remakes of "VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire" allow you to go to the bottom portion of Route 123 (from Route 118). Be careful; the opponents will have Level 35 Pokemon, while yours will only be around 25-30. There is no warning of this sudden level jump.* ''BreathOfFireII'': You can theoretically return to Gate almost immediately after getting Spar in your party. You are only actually ''supposed'' to return to Gate much ''much'' later, and the encounters in that area prove it.** It doesn't really help that the game sort of implies that you're ''supposed'' to go there ASAP, due to the huge deal they make about returning there to investigate a strange phenomenon midway through the game.* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''** The bucket at the End of Time, which you can reach about three or four hours into the game. Using it takes you to the final boss. Odds are you don't actually ''want'' to use it until you've made it through the actual plot, unless you're using a NewGamePlus.** On the other hand, using this gate to access the final boss earlier than you "should" is key to seeing most of the dozen or so alternate endings.** To get to the final boss even earlier (it can be the first battle of your game!) in the NewGamePlus, all you have to do is step on the other side of Lucca's teleporter. This isn't available outside of NewGamePlus, however- and unless you did a lot of LevelGrinding the first time around (or went through the first few [[BonusDungeon Bonus Dungeons]] in the [[VideoGameRemake DS remake]]), you might not be up to the challenge then as you ''only have two party members'' at that point.*** Or even just ''one'' party member if you progress slightly further in the story.* ''DarkSouls'' is notorious for having not one, but ''two'' Beef Gates fresh off the tutorial. Go to the apparently obvious route of the graveyards, the skeletons will kill you with their newbie-proof HP, bleed-inducing weapons (which reduces your HP by a set amount once the bar is filled), and is able to parry to boot. If the player is lucky or tenacious enough, the Graveyards also contain giant skeletons, which are even tougher. If players are ''still'' very foolhardy to progress, the next area, Catacombs, have the super tough skeletons ''respawn infinitely''. Higher levelled players would hardly bat an eyelash at them once they're better-equipped, but this is basically the game's way of telling you the wrongest path to take.** The second Beef Gate is even less pleasant. Take the elevator down and you end up in New Londo Ruins, where your enemies are ghosts. Savvy newbies will make the connection that you need a specific item to even ''block'' from them; otherwise all their attacks go through your shield and your attacks phase through them. Even with the item, your starting equipment is hardly adequate to kill them, and the area is chock full of Ghosts. Should a Player be lucky, they'll find that the place is, for all intents and purposes, useless to visit until endgame, with the Boss of said area requiring an item from defeating yet another boss.** Woe betide any players that selected Thief as their starting class and/or selected Master Key as their Gift. If they wander to Valley of Drakes, the Drakes will instantly kill newbies with their very lethal Lightning Breaths, if the Undead Dragon doesn't kill them first. Wandering too far into Blighttown and encountering the massively powerful Infested Barbarians also does this to them. Simply put, the game doesn't need to tell you explicitly that you've gone to the wrongest of places. [[{{Determinator}} Not that it stops some players...]]** The Serpent Men in Sen's Fortress also count. With their unusually high poise and physical damage resistance, a purely physical weapon will be doing ScratchDamage to an enemy with a lot of HP. Even the mighty [[DiscOneNuke Drake Sword]] is almost useless, and it often forces a serious grinding and reequipping stop.** Trying to get through Darkroot Basin to get to the locked area of Darkroot Garden will lead the player headlong into a pack of Crystal Golems (tough but negotiable) and the Hydra, which will murderer weaker players with an artillery barrage of homing water blasts.** Right off the bat in the DLC you'll be up against the Sanctuary Guardian, a terrifyingly fast and highly aggressive boss who can and will pound a player too weak or underequipped into the dust. If you can't take it, you're ''not'' going to survive anything else in the DLC either.* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'', the areas on the other side of a bridge generally have much tougher enemies than before; if you wander into the wrong place when you're not leveled-up enough, death awaits you.** You don't even have to go that far to get slaughtered. Just start the game and walk south.** The reason you can't rescue the Princess the first time you enter the Marsh Cave early on in the game (other than the fact that the door to her cell needs a key to unlock) is due to the powerful Green Dragon that guards her cell, which will utterly slaughter you if you are foolish enough to try to take it on without lots of level grinding and equipment upgrades.* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'', known as Dragon Warrior IV for its NES release outside of Japan.** This game in general has an extremely steep enemy growth rate (which, with the insane enemy encounter rate and coupled with ArtificialStupidity in Chapter V, accounts for it's [[NintendoHard Nintendo Hardness]]), and you are expected to level grind in between events - the manual gives recommended levels for each point in Chapters I-IV, and they aren't too far off, either. Even if you do things in order this game can be difficult, especially if you don't grind in between events, but on occasion, the game lets you access areas where you aren't yet supposed to go, and if you choose to go to these places - yeah.** In Chapter IV, you are placed on a large continent on which you can go anywhere you please from the start, though you can't fight the Chapter Boss until you've done everything else first and you can't leave the continent until you've beaten the boss. Problem is, you're going to die really horribly if you stray too far from where the plot tells you to go.** In Chapter V, once you get the boat, you're free to travel the world map - only a few areas can't be accessed. This can be exploited to get some overpowered equipment for your characters. Just be sure not to walk to far inland on continents you aren't supposed to be on, because the random encounters will make you die really, really fast. Some areas on the map will pit you against the DemonicSpider Chillanodon, a group of which is capable of wiping out even properly leveled characters in a single turn, if you get on the wrong side of the AIRoulette.* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' mostly averts this. However, the well in Somnia in the second world houses part of a dungeon for characters around level 25. You're around level 12-15 when you first find it.* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' has an apparent BeefGate in the very first dungeon, but you can intimidate the foe into letting you through without a fight.* ''[[VideoGame/{{Mother 1}} Earthbound Zero]]''** There is a very significant difference between the level at which you ''can'' [[spoiler:wake the dragon in {{Magicant}} and fight it]] and the level at which you ''should''.** Another example that's half this and half BrokenBridge: you ''can'' try to simply walk through the tunnel from Merryville to the next area without clearing the path for the train. You just ''[[DemonicSpiders really]]'' don't want to. (It's even {{Lampshaded}} by a talking skeleton you find halfway through the tunnel.)** At the beginning of the game: there are zombies on the map that you can talk to and fight outside of Podunk. Never mind that the same zombies are [[DemonicSpiders random encounters in a ''later'' dungeon]].* In the sequel, ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', at one point the plot forks, with you being told to go to either Scaraba or Fourside. You're supposed to go to Fourside, and if you try to go to Scaraba, then you run into the [[ThatOneBoss Kraken]].* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' is madly in love with this trope. For one thing, it's the ''entire point'' of the [=FOEs=]. Beyond that, certain special cases that are even mentioned ''in game'' (usually in the form of a "you get the feeling that the monsters in this area are much too powerful to fight" message or a quest all about having to get something from its lair while absolutely not drawing its direct attention) include [[spoiler:Wyvern]] in Etrian Odyssey, [[spoiler:Salamox]] in Heroes of Lagaard, and [[spoiler:the Stalkers]] in both games (The last has a suspiciously high vulnerability to fire though).* ''RomancingSaGa2'' had the Canal Fortress Gate, a door guarded by 4 regenerating monsters, each time you take down one or two, they will respawn, destroying the gate will allow you to enter the fortress, but if you do, you cannot recruit the City Thief Class and you will also have trouble finding your way around the fortress, also said gate fight will have to be repeated if you leave the area and try to get back in. Pretty much all the 7 Heroes except the first Kujinshi Battle is a Beef Gate.* ''RomancingSaGa3'' Had the Red Dragon Ruler and the Abyss Naga at the PointOfNoReturn [[spoiler: Huang City]] The Red Dragon Ruler at the start and the Abyss Naga at the end.* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' had this as a consequence of being fairly non-linear. 60-80% or so of the towns will be hard for a few levels if you don't visit the starter towns first, but they are all about the same level of difficulty to get to in the first place. Thus, most of the game is unlocked as of level eight or nine, except for the very end-game parts.** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' has a strategy for sneaking into one of the end-game areas and doing the sidequests there by employing talking skills and running away from any actual fight. This can get you very advanced weapons, the second-best armor in the game, and a mountain of XP that would be a fair reward for near-end game characters, but is utterly insane for starting characters. (One quest gives you 20,000 XP. Starting characters can get five levels from that.) That said, if you happen to hit any random encounters on the way to said end game area, you ''will'' die horribly. Expect to reload repeatedly to pull it off. ** In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' your goal is to follow the trail of the guy who shot you in the head and left you for dead. Said trail ends in the eponymous city, which can be seen clearly from the town you start the game in, and the ''Honest Hearts'' DLC starting point is also near there. However if you travel directly there, you'll get [[CurbStompBattle ripped apart by Deathclaws or stung to death by Cazadores]], forcing you to follow the trail properly (which involves looping all the way from the west side of the map down and around counter-clockwise until you reach New Vegas in the north) and grind levels.\\\\This, and many other Beef Gates in the game, is due to the principal modder responsible for [[GameMod Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul]] (one of the most illustrious mods for VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion) being a member of the development team.*** Both of those entry-level beef gates can be circumvented by experienced [[SequenceBreaking sequence breakers]], however. And you have to enter this danger zone for one of the Great Khans' sidequests, and an unmarked quest for Sloan.*** Another major beef gate is Primm Pass, which is guarded by a [[LivingMotionDetector highly perceptive]] Blind Deathclaw, with packs of vanilla Deathclaws beyond it in the vicinity of Deadwind Cavern, another of their strongholds. Unlike the above two, you can't sneak or mountaineer your way through, due to [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence unclimbable slopes]] and the Blind Deathclaw's [[UselessUsefulStealth ability to detect you even when equipped with a Stealth Boy]]. Like the above, the pass is a straight shot from where you start (Primm) to where you're supposed to be headed (Novac) - the intended, longer method of getting there is circling around south through the Nipton area and following the various roads.*** Trying to shortcut from Novac to Boulder City? There's a literal nest of Cazadores along that path. Stick to the road again.*** And if you attempt to go straight from Primm to Nipton rather than following the highway or the railroad, you'll run into Jackrabbit Springs, which is home to a group of Super Mutants who can easily curbstomp a low-level player. Mutants also guard Black Mountain, another potential shortcut to Vegas.*** A slightly weaker beef gate comes in the form of Scorpion Gulch. The scorpions within said gulch are mostly the weak but deadly Bark Scorpion. However, there just so happen to be Giant Radscorpions in the area, which your newbie gear is unlikely to be able to effectively damage. Ouch.*** Vault 22 is blocked by an army of Cazadores (of course), thanks to even more unclimbable slopes. By the time the average player is sufficiently armed to get through, they'll be powerful enough to one-shot nearly every enemy in the Vault itself.** The ''Lonesome Road'' Divide is accessible right after you leave Goodsprings, but you don't have a snowball's chance in hell there unless you're at least Level 20. Same to a lesser extent for ''Dead Money'' and ''Old World Blues'', whose access points also appear early in the main questline.*** Although if you do pull it off (which is certainly possible if you're using the gear the Divide gives you), it creates a separate problem: you just gained about 15 levels and have gear more powerful than the rest of the game, and now everything is too trivial to be a real challenge.* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' seemed to have some sort of unnatural hatred for cohesive world map design, and ended up combining a serious case of this trope with incredibly poor directions. The people in town A say that you should visit town B. Outside of town A lie featureless plains and forests in all directions and nothing preventing you from going anywhere, leaving you to have to take a wild guess which way town B is. If you guess wrong, you will be first-turn ''annihilated'' by the very first random encounter in the area surrounding towns M, N, and O that you just accidentally approached.\\\\It is not at all unlikely for a new player who, quite understandably, doesn't know which squares house which monsters, to have their ''very first encounter'' in the ''entire game'' be with a ''Behemoth.'' [[NintendoHard On the other hand, maybe that's fitting for this game.]]\\\\Not only that, there were definite ways to get significantly out of your league even in places you ''were'' supposed to be. At one point, you have to sneak into an occupied town to rescue someone. The way the game handled the occupation is that it looked and acted like a normal town, except that talking to ''anyone'' led to their calling you [[YouRebelScum "Rebel Scum!"]] and triggering a normally impossible battle. This battle is key to the games many [[DiscOneNuke disc one nukes]] by defeating them for decent equipment to fuel your grinding (and after a bit, using its higher level to increase your stats faster).\\\\Even worse, going too far immediately south of the starting town activates a PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling filled with high-level DemonicSpiders. You ''will'' die if you attempt to fight them at game start since they largely only take magical damage and you don't get real spells until the third or so town.* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' has two optional underwater dungeons accessible as soon as you get the submarine. Both are full of random encounters with monsters way stronger than those in the areas you're meant to go, and one of them has a nasty boss guarding the only item you can find there. The stuff you can get out of these caves is very powerful compared to what's otherwise available to you, though, and they're both pretty short areas.* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has Eblan Castle. You can go to it the first time you get an air ship. If you can actually survive the stuff inside, you get some very powerful equipment meant for closer to the end of the game.* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' has the basement of Walse Castle, which can be accessed very early in the game and contains a decent Time spell and a great accessory. The only random encounter in the area is the Jackanapes, which has [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]] HP and very high strength, can cast Moon Flute to Berserk your whole party, and always gets a back attack. They can easily tear apart a normally leveled party, and appear as formal random encounters in a dungeon much, much later in the game.* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''** The game more or less ends with this, with the final dungeon accessible almost immediately into the second half of the game. You'll probably want to [[spoiler:find the rest of your scattered party]] and build some levels first, though.\\\\The fact that the game demands you split into 3 separate four-character teams when you try to go in should serve as sufficient warning (if you only have enough people to put 1 or 2 on each team, you definitely aren't ready).** In the same game, it is possible to get a relic that completely disables random encounters (but is exclusive to an optional character). The Final Dungeon also happens to lack mandatory boss fights on all but one of the routes (until near the end), and is filled with tons of goodies...** The same game also has a part with Locke in the occupied Town of Figaro, with his way constantly being blocked by the powerful [=HeavyArmr=] monsters. It is ''technically'' possible to beat them, but would need extensive grinding and loads of healing items. Using the Genji Glove relic makes it doable without all the obscene grinding and good luck.* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has this trope in the form of the Midgar Zolom, a giant serpent that would crush your party (at that level, of course) if you tried to bypass Kalm and headed straight for the next dungeon. Once you'd been through the long flashback scene in Kalm, though, you'll find that you can get a materia that lets you capture Chocobos. A Chocobo will be fast enough to give the snake the slip. It ''is'' possible to just randomly walk past it on foot though.** With a small amount of level grinding, it is possible to beat the monster, and with the Enemy Skill materia, you can acquire the spell it uses to ordinarily kill your entire party. This DiscOneNuke can thus be acquired very early in the game, and allow you to blaze through a good chunk of it pretty easily.*** Either way, there is a BrokenBridge if you don't watch the long cutscene anwyay, so even speedrunners can't skip it.* Similarly to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' allowed players to go straight through the final castle to the BigBad without unlocking most of their action commands. Since this boss has more hit points than a small planet, and any party member who gets KO'd is lost forever, you're probably going to want to solve all or most of the castle puzzles and get your abilities back. (Furthermore, if you're into OneHundredPercentCompletion, the castle bosses can supply you with any Guardian Forces you haven't collected during your quest -- including Eden, which was previously held in a remote area by an unbelievably tough BonusBoss.)* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' combined this with a SolveTheSoupCans puzzle. Taking the wrong exit from an early cave (in spite of an ally's warning) would lead the player to an uninteresting plateau with really, really nasty random encounters. Until the player gets an airship and can use it as a convenient DoorToBefore (as the aforementioned ally is part of a quest) there isn't anything that the player can ''do'' on the plateau other than fight thunder dragons, so presumably the overpowered bad guys were there to tell you to turn around and come back later.** Of course, taking advantage of Quina's [[DesperationAttack Limit Glove]] spell can render this plateau to be a fantastic location for level-grinding. Plus, one of Freya's later abilities deals more damage based on the total number of dragons you've defeated over the course of the game...* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''** Assuming you haven't [[GuideDangIt opened one of the totally random chests that prevents it from spawning]], it is possible to find and enter the Necrohol of Nabudis much earlier than recommended to grab the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Zodiac Spear]]. It's very difficult as it involves dodging large amounts of very nasty enemies, but it can be done.** Many of the optional Espers are likewise protected. It's theoretically possible to fight Adremmalech or Cuchulain shortly after Belias, but the enemies in their areas will kill you before you even reach them without massive LevelGrinding.** The very first time you visit the nomad village in the Giza Plains, you may or may not talk to a child that mentions that they are told to stay close to the village, lest werewolves get them. They ''are'' in fact out there, by the southern exit of the Plains, and will [[OneHitKill oneshot you three times over]] if you aggro them by accident at your current power level.** When you reach the Ozmone plain you can accidentally stumble into the Zertinan Caverns, be prepared to be curb-stomped in 10 second or less.** In Golmore Jungle, don't go off the path. You will find ''numerous'' horrifying surprises, such as hellhounds that are ten levels or so above you. In packs.** Also, at the end of said Jungle, there is ThatOneBoss. However, it is hypothetically possible to go around it, by going through the Feywood, and then going to Paramina Rift. However, the Feywood is populated by a number of monsters that can kill you easily, including adorable little rabbits that [[KillerRabbit spam status-inducing attacks.]] If you do attempt this route, there is only one piece of advice: '''''RUN.'''''** You can get the Trifle hunt at level 20, but at that stage the area it's in will probably be neck-deep in giant toads that you can barely scratch, but which can kill you in a few hits.* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', pretty much ALL of Chapter 11 is one the moment you arrive. You see, you're shown where the next story event is, but if you try to go there, you'll run into [[BossInMookClothing Behemoth Kings]]. Get past the Behemoth Kings and you'll run into [[DemonicSpiders Boxed Phalanxes]]. Get past ''those'' and you'll find [[ThatOneBoss Hecatoncheir]]. The game heavily encourages you to do sidequests until you've leveled up enough to handle these, and in fact lays out a 'trail' of sidequests that serves as a rough tour of the area, even with a few brief cutscenes.* ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy]]'', the BrutalBonusLevel Confessions of the Creator opens with the objective to go rescue a moogle in the Chasm in the Rotting Land. You ''could'' head there right away, only to find it a multi-level dungeon full of Level 40 enemies at best and Level 80 enemies at worst, and after you complete it you're sent to fight a Level 95 WarmUpBoss guarding new areas with level 90+ enemies. Uless you did some LevelGrinding outside story mode, your characters are probably in their 30s, maybe 40s, and you have nowhere near enough money to afford them proper equipment. On the other hand the rest of the world is full of gateways featuring enemies levels 40 through mid-60s, plenty of trade accessories and VendorTrash for trading, and a short distance from the Chasm in the Rotting Land is another multi-level gateway with Level 70-90 enemies.* ''SuikodenI'' has the Kobold Forest. You are not supposed to go there until it is time to meet the elves, but the mobs there can be killed easily with a Fire Rune, leading to you characters being ''many'' levels ahead of the game. It really helps with the upcoming ThatOneBoss in the next dungeon.\\\\Another example of this can be found at the very beginning of the game, in which your Level 1 main character can exit his home town without a party and encounter mobs 10-15 levels above his own. Most of these mobs can slaughter your hero in one hit, but there are some manageable, lower-level mobs mixed in that can set your character many levels ahead of the game. Then look at your feeble, Level 1 party members and laugh at them when you're whisked off to the first dungeon.** It gets even better. You can climb the nearby mountain at the very beginning of the game -- which is filled with enemies who will one shot the entire party. Make it to the top, and the NPC who normally gives you a fairly useless Rune will instead give you [[spoiler:A rune that doubles the EXP for anyone who equips it]] as a reward for your SequenceBreaking.* ''SuikodenII'' had an example of this that was strange enough that it [[GoodBadBugs might not have been intentional]]: near the beginning of the game, when you are still just an orphan with a couple of mercenary friends, you can approach the gate to one of the last areas of the game, Matilda. The gate is locked, and guarded to boot, but for some bizarre reason, you can ''push'' it. That is, you push the entire gate back a few feet, allowing you to slip through the sides, into an area significantly over your level. You don't have a chance against any of the enemies, but if you can run far and fast enough, you can make it alive to a small town you weren't supposed to reach for a few dozen hours, and there you can recruit a couple of characters you weren't supposed to meet until then. Said characters start at levels proportionate to the area, meaning you can use them to power-level your other characters to a ludicrous level before you pick up the main quest line again. And, if one were to theoretically do the sidequest that features said characters, they'll join the party permanently. Having [[LightningBruiser Futch]] and [[StoneWall Humphrey]] on your side makes the early game a ''lot'' easier.* ''Franchise/TalesSeries'' examples:** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' - Similar to the ''[[{{Suikoden}} Suikoden II]]'' example, it is possible for players early on who navigate the higher-level areas successfully to recruit [[spoiler:Sheena]] early. Interestingly enough, this doesn't cause SequenceBreaking -- instead, a BrokenBridge will kick in and make you do the Asgard Ranch and the wind and light seals before Palmacosta and the water seal, merely rearranging two parts of the Journey of Regeneration (and giving you a few new scenes and some new RelationshipValues-building scenes for your trouble). While doing so makes the game more difficult since the new areas are intended for a party 5-10 levels higher, it's hardly impossible. You ''will'', however, screw up the pacing of the customized weapons, and Palmacosta and the water seal will become ridiculously easy afterwards.** In ''TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'', there's a room in the Iselia Human Ranch where you can open a shutter and get a card key that will lead you to some new equipment, unfortunately, behind the shutter is also a random encounter that will curb stomp you with ease without a ridiculous amount of level grinding (or just coming back to the ranch later on in the game, though at that point your equipment's much better than what you get.) Fortunately, you're allowed to run away from the fight, at which point you can quickly grab the card key and get the hell out of the room before it starts chasing you again.** There's absolutely nothing preventing you from going through the Uncharted Sandstretch fairly early on in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' aside from enemies that are absurdly strong and still pose a challenge at endgame levels. There's no SequenceBreaking though, as the Uncharted Sandstretch and the dungeon at the end aren't visited during the plot, just sidequests.** The Xagut Floodmeadow in ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' connects Nia Khera and Xian Du. Xian Du isn't visited until the party is about 10-20 levels higher than they were the first time you visit Nia Khera, and the Xagut Floodmeadow monsters are an appropriate level for the point in the game when you visit Xian Du. If you try to cross it anyway though, the path is blocked by a [[BrokenBridge fallen tree]].* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series.** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' has mostly native fauna hanging around Vvardenfell... but inside the Ghostgate and in the ruins scattered around the map, you see zombies, ash creatures, monsters and divine beings that can kill you in a single hit if you're not leveled enough. (Morrowind is also notable for being the sole title in the series with '''no''' concept of level scaling. It's perfectly possible to swipe end-game gear off of merchant tables if you know who to rob, and too-tough critters are scattered around with the simple assumption that they player will go around next time, after getting one-hit slaughtered a few times.)** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' scaled most enemies to the player's level, but trying to get too far ahead on the wrong quest could easily result in some rather unpleasant encounters with vampires, necromancers, or giant fish [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom Of Doom!]]*** The ''Oblivion'' expansion ''The Shivering Isles'' has the Gatekeeper, an enormous axe-handed golem guarding the gate into the main part of Sheogorath's island. It's nearly impossible to beat him in a straight-up fight, so you have to win a mini-quest in order to kill him and move on. [[spoiler:Later on, you rebuild him to fight off the invaders to the Isles, essentially making a Beef Gate ''on your side''.]]*** There is an NPC in Oblivion called Umbra who is level 50, regardless of your own level. There is a quest to defeat her that you can start at level 20, but she is present from the start. Killing her yields a sword that remains awesome even at high levels.** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has these in the form of Giants, who are suicide to fight at low levels without a LOT of preparation. Also, on top of having Fallout 3 style [[LevelScaling scaling]], the game will occasionally throw a much more difficult enemy or two in a dungeon with everything else leveled scaled, just to keep you on your toes. One particularly rough example occurs if you try to reach High Hrothgar early on, as several dangerous enemies (sabre cats, ice wraiths, or ice wolves) will appear at the base of the mountain, and further up you'll find a frost troll (a foe suitable to a character at level 15 or higher) blocking your path, which probably kick the crap out of you if you're on your own or not well-equipped. Some smart tactics will let you bypass the troll; you can even run straight past it and lead it to the [[BadassGrandpa Greybeards]], [[CurbstompBattle who will deal with it in short order.]]*** One that most people don't see coming (and probably uses this trope the hardest) is the end room of the first major Companions quest. The entire dungeon leading up to it contains nothing more dangerous than a draugr wight (which is usually exterminated by your immortal questgiver ally). The last room, however, starts by spawning 8 lowish level draugr, plus a draugr scourge, which is a tough fight on its own for most low level players. Beating that, however causes the game to sic 5 more scourge, and a Deathlord (who can use the 'disarm' shout) at the player. The only real way to win the fight without having gone through a substantial portion of the game is to kite them around the edge of the room using the flames spell for about half an hour.*** You'll hit a BeefGate early on if you wander too far in Whiterun or Falkreath from the start without either good gear, some levels, or a companion. Venturing too far off the road in Whiterun and not paying some close attention to your surroundings will get you a faceful of angry sabrecat. Doing the same in Falkreath or the Rift early on will lead you straight into the aggro range of the game's resident DemonicSpiders, [[BearsAreBadNews bears]]. Further out from Whiterun, sabrecats and bears become regular occurences along the roads as well. A better-armed player won't have much trouble tackling them by themselves or with an ally, but then you start regularly crossing paths with snow bears and frost trolls...* The first two ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}}'' games are practically made out of this trope, with many areas filled with monsters which are too tough to fight until you are strong enough. In a slight twist, many of these areas aren't essential, and contain nothing more than the strong monsters and perhaps some nice treasure, meaning that you can avoid these obstacles by simply not going there - though you may need to XP gained by defeating the beef gates in order to beat stronger ones that are guarding plot-essential areas.** The third ''Gothic'' game is somewhat more merciful about this, since it's possible to go almost anywhere in the game without some sort of barrier stopping you, but even though its possible to take advantage of terrain, archery, and magic to allow you to conquer some BeefGate areas before you should, it's still dangerous to attempt at best given the same wolves that could murder you at level one are no less capable of killing you at level 50 if they manage to get the drop on you.** ''VideoGame/{{Risen}}'' does much the same, although the monsters are technically beatable--they just take so little damage per hit, and do so much damage when they hit you, that you'll need to be incredibly precise in your parries. If you can kill them (or, occasionally, if you can outrun them), you can often get useful items much earlier than you're supposed to.* The SNES version of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' had the Caryards section. To move on, you had to either pay the King to let you leave, or challenge and kill the King in the arena. Which you ''could'' attempt to do at any time, but good luck on that without [[GoodBadBugs abusing that glitch that makes him freeze in place.]]* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' has Gus, a guard who is somewhat difficult to defeat early in the game, but can also be bribed. Beating him is usually doable, though, and gets you some good experience and cash. You also get the privilege of having him bitch at you for being a SociopathicHero after the fight and every time you talk to him; he even says something new every chapter.** There's also nothing preventing a player from getting to the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials at any point in the game other then progressively stronger groups of enemies.** In the original ''VideoGame/PaperMario'', Kent C. Koopa appears to be this to anyone trying to return to Koopa Village. Fortunately, there's a hidden path in the sewers to get around him, but if you try to go through him, he will annihilate you if you're still at early-game levels unless you're very well-prepared and perhaps a bit lucky.* ''{{Arcanum}}'' utilizes this in the main quest, which if you've proceeded as straight-forward as the story appears to be, will lead through the familiar rats and wolves smack into a high level golem that will shatter your weapons and armor. The main quest's difficulty levels off and evens out for quite awhile after rather than starting lower and increasing gradually, but this spike in difficulty forces you to engage in LevelGrinding by searching out and undertaking dozens of wholly irrelevant quests, and/or trolling for random encounters.* The Super Nintendo ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Lord Of The Rings, Vol. 1]]'' places Hobbiton and Bree two small screens away from one another: cross a bridge, turn north at the crossroads, and you're in Bree. However, to force you to go through the Old Forest and Barrow-downs, the game places a Ringwraith at the crossroads. By time you've finished going through the roundabout route, the Ringwraith is gone. Arguably brilliant, because, why did Frodo and company go through the Barrow-downs in the book? To avoid the Ringwraiths!\\\\The PC version did this as well, but there was a way to get past the Ringwraith and leave by the road. Following the book up to that point had you encounter some Elves and learn the command word Elbereth, which caused a Ringwraith to flee from battle.* The Undernet works like this in most ''MegaManBattleNetwork'' games. The first game makes it particularly easy to kill yourself this way; the Undernet looks like the regular Net, and most of it's accessible starting about one-fifth of the way through the game. If you're determined and lucky enough, you can penetrate to the deepest Undernet zone at this point, getting tons of money and some ''murderous'' chips for your trouble.** In ''Battle Network 6'', you can access a very dangerous part of the Undernet from a secret entrance about halfway through the game. There is even a BonusBoss there, one whose stats are so high that he (and the enemies in the entire area he resides in) might as well be considered post-game material. It is very possible to defeat him as soon as you gain access to the area, but you will need very good reflexes (his attacks consist of StuffBlowingUp almost everywhere).** In ''Battle Network 2'', the Undernet has these stone things. Later ones get up around 500 HP at least. To kill them, you have to hit them with at least as much damage as their HP. If you leave one standing, the others come back. They also have a countdown from 10. When they hit 0, they go boom and rock your world, and two hits will delete you.* In the Playstation game ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'' if you are playing as Asellus, you are required early on to fight low-level monsters on certain nearby mountain path. Strangely enough, if you go just a little bit further up the path than necessary, you will find a huge monster guarding a door. This monster is a big time BonusBoss that guards a small area that contains [[{{Bonus Boss}}an even bigger boss]] and ending-altering potential. If you can pass the two guardians, you [[spoiler:rescue a human girl. Without rescuing this girl you cannot get the fully human ending.]] As you are ending Asellus' story you climb this path again, but with infinite luck you could take on these bosses early...* ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}} 5'' had these on almost every single map, usually guarding alcoves of treasure and upgrades. These creatures so spiked in difficulty for the area even combat oriented characters would have to progress elsewhere, then backtrack (if they remember) just to see what could be hidden there, and by then the XP rewards were insultingly meager. There were a few early areas prowled or populated by the terrors of the world so overpowered it would take half the game before the characters could feasibly quest there.\\\\''Geneforge 1 & 2'' also had these, as opposed to the BrokenBridge style of 3 and 4. Going the wrong way from the early zones would swiftly lead to being up to one's ass in clawbugs and other mid-game enemies.* In ''UltimaIX'' there is a dragon in the serpent spine mountains, who tries to prevent you from wandering too far off track until you can handle it. The area past him isn't actually particularly high level- he's more there for plot reasons.* The ''{{Avernum}}'' series has plenty. Your party is basically capable of wandering wherever they feel like going. If they head into an area they aren't prepared to enter, a roving monster is likely to kill everyone in a few turns, maybe even in ''one''!* Technically, in ''{{Freelancer}}'', once you get past the initial BrokenBridge you can go wherever you like between missions. Surviving is another matter.* In the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series, if you wander anywhere you're told not to, like the Abandoned Mine, you're dead meat. Bosses also often act as beef gates, [[ForcedLevelGrinding forcing you to level grind]] or obtain the SwordOfPlotAdvancement, etc.* ''PhantasyStar'' - Once you get your spaceship, for a time the original game will not attempt to police you with anything but this trope, including things like "directions", "subtle clues" or "the slightest hint whatsoever". Unfortunately, it has not "locked the gate" with very high level monsters, and the spell you need to get into (but not beat) the final dungeon is unlocked at a very low level. If you don't know where to go, you'll soon be able to go everywhere, which makes it even harder to go in the right direction.* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'':** A very nasty band of bounty hunters waits for you in the narrow path leading to the gates of Orzammar, which was intended by the developers to be the last main quest to be completed. This was a problem, however, because an important NPC in a character's personal quest is waiting outside the Orzammar gates. Worse yet, the sword you receive as the reward for that personal quest seems like it would be very nice early in the game, but is ''not even good enough for VendorTrash'' by the time you can access it without resorting to exploits.** Another beef gate is a knight who challenges you to a duel early in the capital of Denerim. Unfortunately, beating the knight is deceptively easy, doing nothing to prepare you for the later pseudo-random one-time encounter with a small army of well-entrenched archers while traveling between Denerim districts.* MightAndMagic is heavily policed this way, and doubly so in the classic games. You can get almost anywhere right at the beginning (though forests and mountains act as [[BrokenBridge Broken Bridges]] until you learn the fairly easy skill to get them), though in some cases you need an access key to enter specific dungeons or towns. However, if you go off the beaten path (the main roads in ''II'', the Western Continent in ''III'', into the dungeons in ''IV'' or ''anywhere'' in ''V'') too early in the game, you ''will'' find yourself in the middle of monsters you can't handle. For extra irony, TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon in ''V'' is accessible right from the start of the game: no skills or pass needed, just a death wish.* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun: The Lost Age'' has two major examples, both of which require noncombat accomplishments to defeat.** At Gaia Rock, you can head straight to the lair of the Serpent with only Move and Growth. However, it will regenerate all HP at the end of every turn unless you clear the maze inside of the mountain so sunlight will shine in and weaken it. This requires, among other things, Whirwind and Reveal.*** On the other hand, with a NewGamePlus, it is possible to simply kill the Serpent in the first round of combat.** At the end of the currents of the Sea of Time, Poseidon blocks the way to Lemuria. Poseidon has a forcefield that can only be broken by the legendary Trident of the Ankhol. '''[[GuideDangIt The game does not tell you this]].''' Said trident is long lost and in pieces. First you have to find the pieces ([[GuideDangIt again, no help from the game]]), and then you need to find an Ankhol blacksmith who can put them together for you (there is one, but [[NeverMessWithGranny she won't be happy that you jailed her grandson]]).* Due to the random generation of dungeons in the dotHack series, you can create end-of-this-chapter dungeons through simple experimentation. Magic used on those that are weak to it does immense damage, enough that a level 1 character can solo end-of-game creatures with enough MP restoratives. Make one and activate an encounter with a non-magic-using enemy weak to a spell you have aaaaand.... (If only real [=MMOs=] let you level like that!)* In ''Videogame/EvilIslands'', there are a few throughout the game, worth noting a couple of dragons in Gipath and an [[BossInMooksClothing Imperial Guard]] in Suslanger.* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'', while not exactly beef ''gates'' because they don't guard anything, the player will encounter level 70 enemies and higher very early in the game, when the party levels are 25 or even lower. Not all of them will attack you on sight, but if you encounter one that will, you'd ''better'' run.** The secret second part of [[NoobCave Tephra Cave]] becomes accesable after the Mechonis Core event, at which your party will probably be around Level 70. The enemies in there are in the mid-to-late 90's.* In ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'', it is technically possible to enter the Guardian Citadel very early in the game, but impossible to defeat the inhabitants until much later.* The Super Doom Shrooms and Blue Antoids in ''VideoGame/TheHalloweenHack''. Impossible to defeat, but can still be avoided.* In ''TheDenpaMen 2,'' while you are free to explore the entire ocean as soon as you get the boat, you'd be wise to stay out of the [[ObviouslyEvil dark water]] or the continent of Afairyca. Both are home to extremely dangerous and powerful enemies--including the notorious [[DemonicSpiders Dark Mists]] from the first game--that will beat you into a pulp until you've level your way through a few other dungeons first. * There are several places in all three ''VideoGame/QuestOfYipe'' games where the path is blocked off by a monster who needs to be defeated to proceed. In some cases, the monster will respawn if you leave that screen and go back.* A lot of great equipment in ''VideoGame/VampiresDawn'', including some of the Vampire Weapons, is available in forests, mountains, dungeons or several other areas that are accessible from the world map as soon as you get the Bat Spell. ''If'' the enemies there didn't cut you to pieces you'd be able to get some of the strongest weapons in the game very early on. Similarly, the red Elras Chests are non-combat Beef Gates. One Vampire Shield is hidden in a chest in Asgar's own castle, but you're unable to open the chest until you have much higher intelligence stats.* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiNocturne'' has a special cursed hallway in the Second Kalpa of the [[BrutalBonusLevel Labyrinth of Amala]] that reduces your health by half every couple steps you take, causing you to drop to one HP in a matter of seconds, filled with enemies that you normally wouldn't fight until the end of the game that will wipe you out should they ever manage to hit you. You're supposed to go down this hallway after [[spoiler:beating Beelzebub in the Fourth Kapla]] to activate an event to continue in the dungeon, but should you manage to get to the end of the hallway, the NPC at the end will congratulate you and reward you with a good 200,000 Macca. * Aside from the locked temples, many areas in ''VideoGame/LordsOfXulima'' are technically fully accessible from the moment you first set foot on Xulima. The reason it's usually better to progress in the recommended order is this trope: The entrances to areas you shouldn't be in yet are guarded by enemy groups that'll wipe out a low-level party within seconds.* Much like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', ''VideoGame/DragonView'' allows the player after a certain point to travel anywhere in the game world their heart desires (barring a few areas only accessible by teleport symbols.) Venture too far off the [[FollowThePlottedLine plotted line]], however, and you're likely to be annihilated by high-level encounters.** Even if you follow the plotted line, the game doesn't even wait until the second major dungeon to throw one of these at you. In one of the early towns, you're told that there's a bow and arrow hidden in a nearby cave. Sure enough, north of the town is a cave with the bow in the very first room. But if the player goes any deeper into the cave they encounter a gargoyle they can only do chip damage to and who can wipe them out in only a hit or two.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Turn Based Strategy ]]* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2's'' Cinquleur missions. You can take the first one ("[[spoiler:The Red King of Cinquleur]]") as soon as you reach the second town, which should be around level ten ''if'' you avoid the plot and do every sidequest you can first, but the actual mission is to take down a level 44 enemy. Should you pull this off, it proves to be [[spoiler:the first in a series of missions against all of Cinquleur's colored kings, each 11 levels stronger than the one before. Thus, the second mission in the chain, "The Blue King of Cinquleur", pits you against a level 55 enemy, and so on.]] If you can pull ''that'' off, all you need to know about the final mission in the chain is that it's called "[[spoiler:[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Five Kings]]]]", and that [[spoiler:the titular five kings have all been promoted to '''level 99''']]. Every mission in the chain can be accessed the ''second'' you complete the mission before it, meaning that the only thing stopping you from doing the entire chain as of the second town in the game is your ability to not die trying.** The worst part isn't even the levels of the Cinquleur clan; it's the fact that each one of them makes use of an ''extremely'' powerful combo of abilities and items, ranging from the Black King (a Moogle Black Mage who absorbs fire, ice, and lightning damage, can heal himself with his spells, and is immune to regular attacks) to the White King (a Nu Mou White Mage who has access to the [[CastFromHitPoints Blood Price]] passive, which Nu Mou ordinarily can't get, and who can freely spam the most powerful spells in the game)!* Starting from the second game, the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series features alternate versions of almost all of the storyline maps (Referred to as the Dark World in 2, and X-Dimension in 3 and 4) that feature enemies far stronger then the ones normally there, even earliest maps having enemies of levels comparable to those of the endgame chapters. These can be accessed very early in the game, but with proper tactics (Generally involving the application of StandardStatusEffects and fusing monsters together via throwing), some of the maps can be cleared, and the equipment and EXP rewards they grant will allow one to breeze through the main storyline, and give them a fighting chance against the maps where tactics alone aren't enough.* Beef Gates are very common in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' series. The very first map in the first game, the Claw, specifically says "The griffons will protect you until you're ready to move on". The other three players (controlled by the computer) will never attack the griffons until you take them out, at which point they will freely attack and control your settlements. You can even get messages about two of your three opponents being knocked out of the game before you fight the griffons.** On any map these usually guard a high level artifact spawn, a rare creature dwelling, or a extremely powerful mine (usually a gold mine). They tend to be a small number of extremely powerful end-tier creature. The good news is there is usually only one or two in the stack, meaning if you somehow have a hard counter for it or recruited enough people to form a large enough army, you could take the stack early on. The bad news is, if you wait till the point you can amass a army large enough to take on them normally, the stack would have increased in size since then, and the artifact is usually not worth it anymore.* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' throws several of these at you to ensure you're not resting on your Research levels. You should have lasers by the first Terror Mission so you can reliably two-shot Chryssalids, Carapace by the Mutons to resist their firepower...* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' has the sidequests where you can recruit the main party's [[KidFromTheFuture kids from the future]]. They're available roughly halfway through the game, after [[spoiler:Lucina]] tells Chrom about them. However, not only are the enemy units in these sidequests higher-leveled than your team is likely to be, there's an additional reason to do these later; the kids will have better stats and skills if you get them with higher-leveled parents.** [[HarderThanHard Lunatic Mode]] has random Risen encounters on the world map be in promoted classes with near-max stats right from the beginning of the game, so you can't take away the mode's difficulty by LevelGrinding early. * ''ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'' has multiple paths, of which the C path will easily destroy anyone not in NewGamePlus. It pits you against enemies that are of a far higher level than your party should realistically handle (unless you invoke the Plume, but that requires more party members than you're given and immensely cripple you in otherwise difficult, yet beatable, battles) for a long while.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Wide Open Sandbox ]]* ''FantasyLife'' has a weird variant in the [[RuinsForRuinsSake Ancient Ruins]], a late-game area. The mobs in the first half of the area are somewhat tough, but nothing to write home about. However, the second half of the area is gated by three VERY tough bosses that can pose a problem even for characters that have Heroe'd several Lifes, as the game before that point [[DifficultySpike isn't exactly hard]]. You need to kill these bosses to continue advancing in several Lifes (Golden Dragon for the Paladin Life, Calamitus for the Mage Life and Gigante for the Mercenary Life). If you can kill those bosses, you're pretty much guaranteed to be able to kill anything else on the Ruins, as the mobs after these Beef Gates aren't much tougher than the ones in the entrance of the area.* While ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' (and ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]'') used a literal BrokenBridge to prevent you from accessing later areas, later versions in the series simply triggered an [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/952150-grand-theft-auto-iv/47146584 inescapable high wanted level]] with an in-story justification. These persisted until you completed enough missions that the requirements were lifted. It is quite a sad sight, crawling ashore after the long swim to Las Venturas, only to see the entire police force charging out of the shrubbery while the whine of helicopters grow overhead.** Of course, people find their way past the bridges. In 'Vice City', the docks have an open gap a bus can be pushed through. Jump on it, get to the docks and drive to the other side. Bazookas are now yours. Another 'Vice' example involves the military base. Soldiers don't like random civilians wandering around. However, a cop uniform is gained in a mission. Soldiers like cops.* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours'': It's entirely possible to drive around to areas with tougher, better-armed gangs. Though even if you defeat them with your puny, puny weapons they will return because the area isn't officially unlocked yet.* ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS}}'' tries this. There's no reason to sneak into the power outage areas off hand except for excellent XP grinding, but the game makes you not want to by placing auto guns on every street corner which magically vanish when the power comes back on.** ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS 2}}'' acknowledges that Beef Gates can be fun, with the trophy "Knock Down in the Blackout", which requires defeating 50 enemies in an area that hasn't had power restored yet.* VideoGame/{{Prototype}} has the USS Ronald Reagan, the location of the final battle, stranded very close offshore from New York. In story you will end up there anyways, however you can get aboard with intense effort before that, but getting anywhere near it results in being shot by incredibly powerful 1 hit kill missiles (or close 1 hits if you have near max health ups), making getting onboard mainly a suicide mission. Once you land onboard you're okay, although there's nothing to do yet due to the story.* ''RuneFactory 2'': Once the second generation begins, you have access to most areas of the four dungeons, including straight access to the bosses. The monsters are stronger, but you can run past them to the boss area. And once there, said bosses will swiftly murder you if you try to tackle them immediately.[[note]]Trieste Forest is doable right away, if you happened to bring plenty of healing items with you and don't screw around fighting the suddenly upgraded mooks.[[/note]]** Similarly, in ''RuneFactory3'', you can access all four of the dungeon areas immediately (though the bosses won't appear without the appropriate event flags). You can also take on the next BonusDungeon after completeing the previous. All the areas have suggested levels and going into battle there without appropriate leveling up will probably see you KO'd before you can even use a healing item.* ''VideoGame/TheGodfather'': There's no BrokenBridge, so you can immediately access all parts of NYC after completing the first few compulsory plot missions. If you can take over the intended-for-lategame Fronts, you can really roll in the dough. Are you really sure you want to, though, given your initially poor stats?* Although you can take on gangs in any order in {{Saints Row 2}}, the Ronin are clearly meant to be the last you tangle with, as they are backed by a corporation, and their vehicles, though lightly armoured and small, are very fast racers, and their 'top soldiers' have a higher ratio of automatic weapons. They can be upon you in seconds, and if you are tangling with them on foot, they might catapult you into the air with their cars.* ''{{VideoGame/Terraria}}'': The Dungeon Guardian. If you try to enter the Dungeon too early(more specifically, before beating a certain boss) the Dungeon Guardian will come to get you. A giant, spinning skull that moves REALLY fast, insta-kills you if he touches you, has 9999 health, and no matter what, all attacks only do 1 damage to it.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]* A strip from the ''FoxTrot'' [[NewspaperComics newspaper comic]] featured Jason trying to fight his way through one of these, only to have his sister discover that [[SheatheYourSword if you don't attack, it will let you pass by in peace]]. "The biggest, most dangerous monster in the whole game, and you're ''not'' supposed to take him on?"[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]* Many a DM in most tabletop games rely on a combination of this and {{Broken Bridge}}s to make sure the players go where the DM leads them. [[http://web.archive.org/web/20081103085410/http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/rpgcliches.html One site with a tabletop RPG cliche list]] mentioned "T-Rex on the Plains", where the DM puts a ''T. rex'' in an area just to keep the players on rails.* The board game ''TabletopGame/{{Talisman}}'' is made of three rings, the easy outer ring, harder middle ring, and the final stretch ring. One method to get from the easy ring to the hard ring is to fight the sentinel guarding the only bridge. In fact, the vast majority of the game is spent powering up so you can take the next area, making the game one big grind to beat the Beef Gates (And screw over the other players).* In the ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' White Wolf somewhat encouraged storytellers to use [[WerewolfTheForsaken werewolves]] to [[FurAgainstFang keep vampires in the cities]]. Though the Gangrel, being intended to be the setting's "werewolves" before the separate gameline was written had an "understanding" with them.** Later installments also estabilished in canon that high and mighty tampering with society and the fates of the world is the bailiwick of Mages and Technocrats (as opposed to early Vampire editions where vampiric intrugue was behind every conspiracy in the world). So if the vampires go beyond maintaining their Masquerade and start influencing society and history, they risk an angry squad of HIT Marks hunting their sorry reality deviant arses or a bunch of Hermetic mages eager to relight old hostilities. Vampires are not {{Muggles}} and do not generate [[AntiMagic Paradox]], so it's generally safe to give them a faceful of vulgar fireball goodness or slice and dice them with {{Laser Blade}}s.[[/folder]]